another sewing catch up

Falling behind with my posts lately! I made 2 jackets in the school holidays last year,  from one of my favourite inspiration books. Just found this post was sitting in drafts! Ignore the last paragraph which is about 7 months out of date now!

I just love the pictures, the stories, and of course the patterns! I traced the pilvi jacket, checked the size and shape against a couple of other jackets, and got cutting!

This is the 2nd one I made ( will have to find a photo of the 1st one - I was wearing it yesterday!)

I think it even looks a bit like the picture in the book!

I wore it to work the other day because we had a meeting with a delegation of teachers from Sweden, so I thought I would wear my jacket sewed with a pattern made by a designer from Sweden! ( plus I don't still have the ABBA t shirt I loved in primary school!!!)

Hip to be square #1

I bought this “ Pretty little patches” magazine years ago, and  liked the pattern for the “ Disappearing nine patch” quilt.

So started playing around with colours, and cutting out squares. Sewing squares together to make 9 patch squares. More next post - I can only write short posts, because I can’t see the bottom of the screen!

Catching up

Looking for a photo on my iPad, I found these which I had taken on my work phone ( I was trying out the camera and comparing the photos to my phone). I attended statewide conference for Visiting Teachers in December last year, at the Sofitel Melbourne on Collins. I couldn’t resist taking some photos of the gorgeous frocks on display - “The Art of Couture”, exhibition that “pays homage to Melbourne fashion icon Shirley Keon”. Beautiful! ( and the conference was good too!) 

I love how the patterns were displayed along with the dresses.

My “ new” sewing machine

Last year a friend offered me an old sewing machine, he had found it in hard rubbish a while before, and never gotten around to using/ fixing it  - “ all I know is we plugged it in to the power and it seemed the light came on!”. Turns out it was a Singer 201K machine!
I was very excited to take it, as I have been dreaming of getting a classic old machine for years! My Dad had a couple in his shed, but they were specialised shoe making machines ( which we will try and sell once life goes back to “ normal” ), so I grew up loving the look of old singer machines.
 It has taken me ages to get around to taking the machine in to see if it actually works, I was almost not game enough, in case it didn’t work, or was in really bad condition. I guess I was a bit put off after I found a 1974 singer in hard rubbish last year, which turned out to be not worth repairing.

 But once the sewing room was fixed ( involving angle grinding a channel  into the concrete floor ( outside) and LOTS of silicone sealant  inside on the floor/ wall joint!)  and everything back in place, I had a clean up, and it was time for a test drive!
At the start of the holidays I had taken the 201 in to Statewide Sewing in Coburg for a service. Roger said it was a fantastic machine in great condition, only needed a good clean and general service. He gave me some tips - like the right- left needle  threading! and  I bought some bobbins and needles.

The case is a bit damaged, I really must put some beeswax furniture polish on it!

And here she is!  Shout out to the lovely Katie over at Katie Writes Stuff, for her great vlog post on how to thread an old singer machine! I still have yet to try winding a bobbin though, that will be the next challenge!

Dream weaver...

I had so many plans these holidays, finally being able to get into my sewing room " the shack", have a sort out and get some actual sewing done! Half done quilts, cut out new jackets, not to mention a mountian of mending. I even took my "new" ( to me) machine to Roger at Statewide, to see if it was worthwhile servicing/ repairing. * more next post!*

But no, it was not to be. 

I knew there had been some rain seeping through the back wall where it meets the floor. But it was worse than I first thought. So everything is packed and piled in boxes at the " dry" end of the room. Lucky I have a travel sewing kit in the house ( needles, mini scissors, black and white cotton) in case I need to sew a button ( which I did have to do yesterdat in fact!). Because I can't get to anything else.

I have 2 knitting projects on the go, of course! 

As I had to throw my lovely carpet mat out ( lucky it is hard rubbish next week) I thought maybe this would be an opportune time to start a new craft I have been wanting to try - rug making! I had left a couple of old sheets accessible after all...

I did some research online, watched some YouTube clips, and got my eldest ( who has developed an interest in woodwork) to make me a wooden weaving " needle". Rustic yet rather lovely I think. ( pen for scale)

My first attempt started looking too bulky and floppy. 

Then I thought " what if I weave onto rope" - like my machine sewn rope bowls.

I am much happier with this version, looks more like a rug.

School holidays/ staying in...

If anyone wants me, I shall be in Melbourne.

In 1928.

Hanging out with this amazing sassy lady!

...and possibly wearing a suitable hat!

Knitting basics - crafts for crazy times

I have notice there seems to be a bit of an increased interest in craft- including cooking, making and gardening - with the social distancing measures in place during these crazy corona times. The Age today had a lovely article titled “Virtually no social life? Think Again” featuring a 5 year old playing monopoly with his 11 year old cousin via FaceTime. And another story told of the rush of sales of seedlings, with people spending time at home and looking to plant a vege patch for “ something productive” to do, as well as for food production and mental health.

Several people on our wonderful local Good Karma Network ( big shout out to the admins - all volunteers - who do an AMAZING job moderating all posts!) have been asking about knitting, crocheting, and digging sewing machines out of storage to dust them off and use them or lend them to people looking for something to do with their teens at home!

I highly recommend popping over to Pip’s lovely blog “Meet me at Mike’s” for all things crochet ( as well as some ACE recipes, craft ideas, book reviews, tips on looking after yourself and just an allround wonderful read!).


As for knitting, my journey started about 10 years ago, when I bough this book from Scavengers at the Sydney Road Festival. Casting on was the tricky bit, and even a quick online search now has come up with mainly complicated cast ons. The Spruce Crafts has a great step by step guide with photos and videos, it looks like a great resource for beginner knitters.

Along with tips from my MIL ( because trying to cast on was the but I couldn’t get until she taught me the super easy knit cast on, which I have never seen in a knitting book!) and a how-to-knit book aimed at children I found at the Coburg Library ( I still have the photocopied pages!), I finally got the hang of it. You can find various scarves, beanies, blankets and shawls documented in my blog. I have not got the time or patience to attempt a jumper or cardigan! I haven’t done any blankets for a while as they take months. I already have  about 4 shawls on the go at the moment, and not much knitting actually being done!

My first go to pattern is from the above book. I still use this pattern to make cowls ( one ball of chunky yarn usually makes a cowl and I can have a quick hand made gift made in a couple of days if I am really serious about it. I even knitted at the cinema while watching “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” because I had a birthday gift to finish!